Some say enchantment is only a fancy, a carry over from times long past when our ancestors knew no better. Others say enchantment is a tool and can be shaped to serve their own ends. But there are those who say it is something else altogetherâ€”the very essence of life and wonder; a vital link to mystery and wisdom. Come to know it and it will enrich how one approaches life, from the chores of day-to-day to how we interact with the numinous.

The shamans of aboriginal folk, the wise men and women of old Europe, and even the common folk of the distant past (before urbanization drew people far from the land) knew how to find enchantment. It was all around them, in their crops as they pushed up from the earth and in the green shadowed depths of the forest. The ancestors lived very close to the natural worldâ€”they drew their lives directly from it. How could they not know enchantment? It derives of Nature.

And while enchantment is no mere tool, it is a wellspring of power and hidden knowledge when used to good purpose. In Alaska, an aboriginal boy once told me of how his grandfatherâ€”the village shamanâ€”used it to shape-shift into a bird to seek out the caribou upon which the people of his village depended. Witches of old drew upon enchantment to heal sick persons and livestock with secret charms. I have called upon it and seen an ailing garden revive beyond belief, and found myself suddenly with the knowledge of what to do to help that healing along.

Enchantment is out there, and finding it is not so hard. The shaman’s first vision quest, the witch’s initiation, the mystic’s first tentative meditationsâ€”they set one pointedly down the path. But that is only part of the journey; the other part comes of drawing close to the natural world. Tend a garden. Learn the ways of wild flora and creatures. Listen to the secrets trees whisper when the wind blows. In short, fall in love with the sacred Earth. The magical paths may teach you how to work with enchantment, but it is the green world that teaches you the better partâ€”how to relate to enchantment, and more importantly, why.